Webworms spin very strong webs at the ends of branches and the worms inside munch happily on the leaves. You can treat trees in the spring with different types of insecticides. Pruning and clearing fall leaves form the ground are suggested techniques, also. The site suggested that if the web is split open, birds and wasps will have better access to the worms inside. That is what I’m trying.

Bamboo/Carbon Fiber Tandem
Giannux (Flickr)

There was a New York Times reprint article in the Bulletin recently on the growing popularity of bamboo bicycles. Bamboo is used in some of the key straight parts on the bicycle frame including the seat stays and chain stays. It isn’t used for joints or mechanical parts. Some comments in the article portray this an eco-friendly bike because of the abundance of bamboo. I think this is kinda like when you hear about the homeowners of a 3,800 square foot house claiming to be eco-friendly because they use energy-star appliances and have solar panels attached to the four-car garage. The article quotes the owner of a bamboo bike shop stating “unlike carbon fiber, bamboo can be composted”. Yeah, I’m going to spend six grand on a bike because down the road I’ll want to compost a few parts. They can cost between $3,000 for just the frame to $10,000 built up.

The bikes are beautiful, and likely have more value as works of art instead of regular commuters or competitive bikes. If you’re handy and would like to build your own, you can find plans on the Web for doing so.

Fillipi Pamplona (Flickr)

I read Richard Roeper’s book Bet the House last week and found it to be very interesting. I can’t say I’m much of a gambler considering I play a $.02/$.05 table of online poker maybe once every 2-3 weeks, but I do find the gambler lifestyle fascinating. I’m not talking about the famous poker players on ESPN. I’m curious about the person who is guessing numbers on the roulette wheel for several hundred dollars a spin. Are they playing with a scant percentage of their day’s income or did they just lose their mortgage payment?

Roeper is already a casual gambler but steps it up for this book in which he participates in all kinds of games and wagers, betting at least $1,000 per day. He explains the games well and weaves great narratives in amongst the “action” to make for a fun read.

If you head to the casinos, you might want to stick with high stakes video poker or slots, Pai Gow poker, and multi-deck blackjack as they have the smallest house advantage.

Vogels in Montana
A Wayword Journey

Read a story by Lynn Schnurnberger in Parade Magazine about the Vogels. They are a family that is over two years into a long bike tour from northern Alaska to southern Argentina. They’re traveling between 30-50 miles per day and riding about 15 days per month and are currently in Bolivia.

Check out their website, A Wayword Journey, to catch up on their progress and enjoy some photos and videos. Sounds like a fantastic journey and a great way to spend time with the kids.

Key Ring App

I had such high hopes for the Key Ring app for my iPod Touch. It allows you to add frequent customer cards with bar codes to your device so you can go without the actual card.

I tried mine out with my Safeway card and my library card. Neither was able to scan and I had to resort to my backups. The program is very easy to use and I’m confident there is nothing wrong with the app specifically. The problem is likely with the very reflective iPod screen and bar code scanners have trouble focusing. I’ll continue to test the app, but the library card and grocery store card are my most frequently used.

Looks like I won’t be lightening my wallet yet.

Mackinac Island is a close second place behind Disney World as the most tourist-driven area. The downtown alternates fudge shops and t-shirt shops about every twenty feet. In fact. In a two-minute walk I noticed four different Ryba’s Fudge Shops.

We were there on a very sunny and crowded Saturday afternoon. The bike rental shops were raking in the cash hand over fist. Joan and I scored a tandem cruiser and circled the island. Our visit was brief, but I’ve got no complaints about an afternoon of cycling with views of the water and a break for ice cream.

Agawa Pictographs Trail, Ontario
Obsidian Flow (Flickr)

Before stopping for the night on our first day in Ontario a couple of weeks ago, we paid a visit to the Lake Superior Provincial Park on the northeast coast of Lake Superior off of highway 17. The light was fading so we checked out the trail leading to the Agawa Rock Indian Pictographs.

Signs warned us about the danger of the trail near the pictographs and when we got there you could see why. The pictographs are along a rock face right on the water and the ground was a rock slope that stayed wet from the waves. I could easily see how someone could fall in. The park provided a throw rope and other rescue equipment and Joan was ready by the gear in case I took a dip.

It was really a beautiful area and warrants more time than what we could spend. I’m looking forward to a return trip when I can hopefully see a moose.

Justine Ezarik aka iJustine
Scott Beale (Flickr)

An article at Yahoo! Finance presented some insight into how much money some of the top YouTube independents have made in the past year. The amounts are estimates from TubeMogul, an advertising company.

Some of the top YouTubers run news broadcasts while others focus on comedy skits. A couple on the list I’m familiar with are vloggers, i.e. bloggers that put out video clips multiple times per week instead of text posts. YouTube posters make money by displaying advertisements on the videos. They’re paid a percentage of the ad rate based on the number of impressions (displays) and/or number of clicks by viewers. Google owns YouTube and also gets a percentage of the ad revenue.

1. Shane Dawson – $315,000
2. The Annoying Orange – $288,000
3. Philip DeFranco – $181,000
4. Ryan Higa – $151,000
5. Fred – $146,000
6. Shay Carl – $140,000
7. Mediocre Films – $116,000
8. Smosh – $113,000
9. The Young Turks – $112,000
10. Natalie Tran – $101,000

OLG Casino in Thunder Bay
djhsilver (Flickr)

Joan and I stopped in our first OLG casino in Saulte Ste Marie after crossing into Ontario. I enjoy playing video poker from time to time and we figured the ATM there would be a good spot to pick up some Canadian dollars. We were pleasantly surprised that the entire casino was smoke-free. It was great and much more enjoyable walking around. Some of the casinos in the states have a “smoke-free” section but the smell is still there and they generally don’t have many options for gaming.

I was chatting with one of the employees to find out who owned the casino. I didn’t know if it was like in the states where casinos were allowed in some sections of the country. The employee explained that it was government run. Interesting…kind of like a large-scale version of the video lottery machines you find in some restaurants and bars.

A couple of days later I read a poll in one of the local papers that really seemed to indicate that gambling is not well received by a lot of Canadians. I found a little more evidence of this while finding the photo above. There were four OLG casino photos on Flickr with creative commons license and two of the four (including this one) came with some comments that indicate that the casinos are not respected.

The night before leaving Ontario we stayed at the Prince Arthur hotel in Thunder Bay, which was just a couple blocks away from the OLG casino pictured above. Our one-night stay in the hotel came with a couple of $10 vouchers for games at the casino so we headed over after dinner. Signing up at the casino got us an additional $10 so we had $30 of money to play with. After a bit of video poker and video blackjack, we left the casino with $21. This along with the $15 voucher for breakfast in in the hotel restaurant made for a nice discount.

Joan and I have even picked out a cute looking inn with balconies facing the water for our next visit.

Grand Marais, Minnesota

A recent issue of Outside magazine listed Grand Marais as a top pick for paddling because of the lake bay access and river trail system.